


jumping right in

by thereinafter



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Drinking & Talking, F/F, Flirting, Kissing, Magical Experiments, playfulness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29272110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereinafter/pseuds/thereinafter
Summary: Dagna's pretty curious about Sera's kind of magic.
Relationships: Dagna/Sera (Dragon Age)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	jumping right in

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anneapocalypse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneapocalypse/gifts).



Dagna hefted a medium-sized keg of Antivan brandy onto her shoulder and maneuvered it out of the Herald’s Rest storage room. She’d come up to investigate the tavern after work, then got talking to Cabot the bartender and offered—well, jumped in—to help. It seemed like he needed a hand, and it was interesting to meet someone here from Orzammar, even if he wasn’t the chattiest.

A nimble figure in red ducked through the crowd past her and surfaced near the bar. “Standing room only? Weird. Cabot, can I get a drink of the good stuff? A big one.”

She’d seen Sera around since arriving at Skyhold, but never spoken to her. Harritt said she was temporarily banned from the workshop. Dagna sneaked another look as she carried the keg over. She must be just back from an adventure—battered leathers over her dress, hair sticking up around her ears when she ran her hand through it. And she smiled like she knew where all the fun was. 

“There you go!” Dagna said to Cabot, lowering the keg with a sigh, and got a nod as he bent to tap it. She turned back. “I can get that. You’re Sera, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. Well, when I asked people.”

“Asking people about me?” Sera gave a scoffing laugh. “Who does that?” She leaned over the counter, eyes bright, looked her up and down, then gave Dagna an approving grin. “Get yourself one too and ask me, if you want to know things.” She took a coin from her belt and danced it across her fingers on the bar.

Dagna grabbed two mugs from the shelf and filled them with what she’d learned was the best ale. She set one in front of Sera and slid her coin over to Cabot. “Like, I’ve got to know, what did you do to get banned from the Undercroft?”

“Oh, that. Bees again. He’ll let me back in.” Sera took a long drink. “And you’re the famous arcathingy, right? I was expecting another mage with her nose up her arse, not pretty hair and … arms.” She wrapped her hands around her mug. “ And bartending. Catch Vivienne pouring drinks, she’d die first.” She snorted another laugh. “Hope you didn’t ask her about me.” 

Dagna glanced down at her rolled sleeves and felt a blush start. “I was just helping out here. Arcanist, that’s me!” She pointed to herself with a thumb. “Leliana pulled strings to get me here. We’re old friends. Well, in a way.” Cabot waved his hands like he was done with help, so she walked around the counter with her ale. 

“Friends with _her_?” Sera drank, with an intrigued sidelong look at Dagna. 

“I grew up in Orzammar, until the Hero of Ferelden came, with her. They helped me leave home. For the Kinloch Hold Circle, at first.” Dagna leaned on the bar next to her. “It was all I ever wanted.”

“Didn’t think you could do magic. Dwarves, I mean. How does that work?”

“Oh, I’m not a mage. We can’t be, you’re right. But I’ve read everything about it, ever since I was young. Studied and traveled and studied, and, well, very long story short, now a few first enchanters and maybe Tevinter are scared of me.” She felt a little weird bragging about herself, but it was true, and Sera’s attention and … everything did make Dagna kind of want to impress her.

Sera laughed hard and raised her mug. “Drink to that.” 

Dagna clicked hers against it and drank deeply. Turned out she was thirsty. It had been a long day finishing up in the workshop, before she got distracted up here.

Sera wiped her mouth. “Me, I stay far away from all that. If I can’t shoot it. Normally.” She groaned. “Here, I’ve seen more creepy demon shit than I want to, ever. The other day, a magister did a spell and then … swelled up like a mushroom and kept going till he split, right in front of us.” She shuddered. “Parts everywhere, and he wasn’t dead until we killed them all. Ugh.”

“That’s awful,” Dagna said. “I’ve seen some accidents in the Circles. That kind of thing stays with you forever.” She grimaced and took another swallow of ale, draining it. “The up side of not being a mage in my case: I can’t be possessed. And runecrafting, it’s dwarven, mages don’t understand it. It’s like building channels for magma back home. You make sure you have the right structure, and if it’s right the magic will just flow, but it has to be just right—” She caught herself. “Sorry, I can go on about technical stuff sometimes. The point is, I’ve got new thinking, I want to help you all, and there’s a lot I can do.”

“Right.” Sera was frowning down into her empty mug, shifting her feet. Oh, no, had that been too much? 

“Like, for example, I can get another round!” Dagna held out a hand. “It’s not classic dwarven ale, but pretty good, right?” She glanced toward Cabot. “No disrespect! I might like the taste better.”

“Tried dwarven ale once, in Val Royeaux. Completely drunk off my arse from half one.” Sera’s laugh bubbled up. “Saved me money. I’ll take more of this, though.”

When she returned with the refills, Sera’s expression had relaxed. “I mean, if you do it without blood and spirit bullshit and fuck-off holes in the sky, I guess, hooray. The Inquisitor’s a good one, and she needs all the help she can get.” 

Their fingers brushed as she took the mug, and Sera didn’t pull away but flashed her that smile again when she noticed. She was nice to look at. And closer, not as tall as most everyone here. It was a teeny bit exciting, looking up at her, being smiled at.

“Absolutely. I want to help fix those. I can’t wait to get started.” Dagna leaned forward. “Honestly, I bet I could help you, too. Aren’t those magic?” She pointed to the row of small flasks Sera wore. “I saw you break one in the courtyard a few days ago, and it sure looked like it.”

“Not that kind. I just smash them and it does things. It’s not like you get demons, if you fuck up.” Sera made a wavy shape with her hands. “Worst is you might get burned, and it’s just you. Scorched my hair off once.”

Dagna giggled. “Hey, me too! I get explosions all the time. Cheers.” She lifted her mug. “Is that how …”

Sera twirled the ragged hair in front of her ear. “Not this time. Did that bit with a dagger.” She drank. “It’s the best way to fight, though. Jump right in and do something. No time to be scared. Thinking too much ruins it. You set yourself on fire, you deal with it.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Dagna said. “Sometimes you have to just go for it, and see what happens.” 

Sera’s chuckle was knowing and a touch breathy. “Yeah.” She drew it out, happily mock-suggestive, until Dagna laughed, and then so did she. 

“And these are good”—she patted the flasks—“but arrows are better. And friends. Hey, did you hear the one about the first enchanter whose books all turned to moldy cheese? Well, sort of.” Sera launched into a story about people she called Red Jennies that Dagna wasn’t entirely following, but watching her tell it made up for that.

Then Dagna asked her more about her adventures, and Sera was happy to tell more stories, and trade whispered comments on the minstrel’s songs and the people in the room, and somewhere in there she bought a third round, and it shaped into a pretty good time of an evening.

She was finishing a story about the Iron Bull and an ogre when a bouncy tune started up. “Not this one!” Sera punched her free hand toward the minstrel. “Maryden! I’m right here, shut it!” She said to Dagna, “Never agreeable, my arse. I mean, I can be. If I want. If it’s worth it, right.” 

The lute stopped and began a slower melody. Sera subsided, leaning back on her elbow on the bar, and drank her ale.

Dagna eyed the flasks across Sera’s chest again and bit her lip, then decided to be impulsive. “Back to your kind of magic for a second. I have this idea. And you can completely say no, but here goes. Could I maybe try one of those? Outside?”

Sera spluttered mid-drink as if it had gone up her nose. “Sorry, did I hear you ask to try one? After I said I set myself on fire?”

“Yes!” Dagna nodded vehemently and pushed hair out of her face, which felt warm. “I want to know how they work. Experimenting. It’s kind of what I do. What do you think, could you show me?”

Sera’s grin broadened over the mug. “Brilliant.” She banged it down on the bar. “Oh, I _like_ you. Didn’t expect that. Sorry, but I didn’t.”

Containing a wave of doubled excitement, Dagna said, “It’s okay. People don’t usually expect me. So, is that a yes?” 

“Come on. Not like we’re missing much here.” Sera clapped her on the back, and began pushing through people back toward the Rest’s door.

Dagna followed, still in her shirtsleeves, jacket and breastplate forgotten in the corner. On her way out the door, Sera grabbed her bow and quiver, slinging them over her shoulder.

The sparring ring in the courtyard stood empty and abandoned, everyone inside for the evening. Sera jumped the fence and waited while Dagna walked around to the gap. “I didn’t train for this or anything. When it breaks, you just react. Use what you get.”

“Primal forces.” Dagna bounced on her toes. “Yeah.”

Sera pulled one of the flasks from her bandolier. “Fire. Watch me.” 

She set it on a flat rock and stomped on it. Pale ghostly flames sprang up around her, making shadows dance in the ring. She whooped, jumped up to the fence rail, drew and released in a blur, and five arrows arced into the heads of the practice dummies across the lawn. Then Sera launched into a flip, head over heels down to a neat landing in the grass, right in front of Dagna.

Grinning through the halo of flames, she held up a second bright flask. “Ready?” At Dagna’s nod, Sera whipped it toward her feet.

The same flames enveloped her, catching and leaping higher, warming her muscles as energy leaped inside her. It felt like she’d just jumped out of bed after the best sleep. “Whoa,” Dagna said. The flames spurred her to move. She jogged around the ring, then flat-out ran, watching flames trail behind her. Her lungs should have burned, but they moved easy. “If I had a forge right now, I could outfit the whole Inquisition.” She tried push-ups on the ground, two-handed, one-handed, all effortless. 

Sera draped herself on the other side of the fence, her fire faded. Her voice was breathless. “It doesn’t last, but you can get in a few good ones, if you’re quick.” There were a few scattered claps from the direction of the Rest; people had wandered out to watch. “Want me to get rid of them?”

Dagna tried a clap in between. “Oh, no, they’re fine, I don’t mind.” Slowly the flames died down around her, letting her slow to a stop, back in the dim moonlight. She sat up with grass stains on her shirt. “That was fantastic. I have so many questions. What else is there?”

“Frost.” Sera held up a cloudy bottle.

“Probably not my favorite.” Dagna braced herself. “But do it.”

When the frost flask broke over her head, it was a different kind of exhilaration, like diving into a snowbank from a hot pool. Her heart pounded. She felt cased in crystal. Ice sealed her lips and ears, each of her fingers immobilized.

Sera was a red blur through the ice. “If I hit you now, I’d freeze right there,” she said. “Instant statue, ready to be smashed by Cassandra or someone. Not going to, obviously.” 

Dagna nodded, feeling her head move slowly, shell cracking at her neck. Might take some getting used to, but not too bad. 

“You’ll melt in a second. It’s good if you’re pinned down. And for dragons.” She chuckled, as if at another story in her mind. “But fire’s more fun.”

The ice began to flake, dropping off her clothes and sliding down her skin in shards and pieces as her body melted its underside. Dagna shucked it away from her face and arms, which tingled with boosted circulation. “Phew.”

“Want another? What I sometimes do is freeze everyone, then smash some fire and get out of there.”

They went through Sera’s store one at a time—“Inquisition pays,” she said, “I can get more.” The surges of elemental power cleared the ale from Dagna’s head. It was just fun, messy and immediate in a way most of her work wasn’t. She thought of a hundred different tricks she wanted to test. She wished for her notebook downstairs, but there would be time to document later.

Breaking a new flask, Sera cartwheeled through the dummies, setting one on fire.

Dagna looked up. “Um, isn’t that where the Seeker—”

Sera noticed the flames climbing the dummy. “Oh, piss!” She threw a frost flask that smashed at the base, dousing the fire, and collected her arrows. “If she asks, that was you.” 

She grabbed Dagna’s hand and a different type of vial, and with a crackle the world seemed to stop around them. “Lightning getaway!” Sera pulled her across the grass, through the Rest, up the stairs, at apparent hyper-speed, dodging motionless people left and right.

They ran through a room and climbed out a window. On a sloped tile roof overlooking where they’d just been, Sera stopped. “Made it! This is where I sit sometimes.”

“That was all amazing.” Dagna caught her breath with a hand on the wall, laughing.

“I know, right? It’s so good.” 

They gazed into each other’s eyes. Sera was still holding her hand. Everything around was still slowed down.

“I have to experiment with this, please.”

Sera chuckled, lower in her throat, like she couldn’t help it. She shifted her weight on the wall beside Dagna, balancing on the roof tiles.

Dagna’s body caught up with her, and she realized how close they were again. Her heart was still flying ahead, racing. Was she going to do this? “You’re really pretty.”

“Yeah?” There was a grin in her voice. Sera trailed a finger along her cheek. Her lips were right there. ”Already said you were, didn’t I.”

Go for it. Jump right in. Okay. Dagna rose on her tiptoes and kissed her. 

When Sera smiled this time, she felt it. “Mmm, yes please,” she said under Dagna’s mouth before kissing her back.

She cupped Sera’s face in both hands, to feel it again, and Sera bent down to her, until they were sinking to their knees on the roof edge, trading giggles and kisses back and forth, lips and hands and tongues. All heated and daring and conspiratorial, like they were getting away with something. Which Dagna supposed they were, and it was pretty great. At some point the lightning magic must have faded, but she couldn’t tell.

Sera wrapped her arms around Dagna’s waist and hugged her tight. “And you’re fun. Ooh, smooshy.” She dropped a kiss on the tip of Dagna’s nose, then down her neck to the laces of her shirt, nuzzling her face in. “Why haven’t we done this before? Where’ve you been hiding since you got here?” 

Dagna suppressed a chuckle and leaned into her. “Just the workshop. I guess I see why you’re banned now.” She didn’t want to ban Sera. “Maybe I can fix that.”

“The bees weren’t my best one,” Sera declared, raising her head. “You should’ve seen the one with the bucket of custard. And there were kittens, after.” 

Gradually extricating her arms from under Dagna, she started into another story of various practical jokes, illustrated with very expressive gestures and impressions of Skyhold residents. Dagna was cracking up, but away from Sera she felt the night chill seep in through the roof slates. She laughed and shivered, hugging herself, until she tumbled over laughing.

Sera finished, “What I mean is, you, come up here more often, yeah?” 

“Well, sure,” Dagna said. Overhead, past the roofs and towers, the sky was huge, powdered with stars like lyrium dust. “Hey, though, after all this, I bet you I can make something magic you’ll like.”

“Bet me what?”

She turned her head and smiled up at Sera. “I don’t know. Just let me try a few things.”

Sera laughed, pleased and disbelieving. “How cute are you that that really doesn’t sound bad?” She put a hand on Dagna’s arm and leaned over. “Hey, goosebumps. Want some more?” She held up another fire flask. “Or more of the other thing? Because _I’m_ not cold.”

“Okay, definitely that, but … indoors, maybe? That’s your room, right?” She pointed through the window. “Don’t get me wrong, this is a great roof, but I like them over, not under me, generally.” She cleared her throat. “Um, roofs, I mean.”

Sera’s laugh this time was a lascivious flutter against her skin. Dagna thought she could make a study of her laughs. “Well, yeah. Best room in Skyhold. And warmer than here for sure. I’ve got blankets.”

“Lead the way,” Dagna said. “I’ve got ideas.”


End file.
